South West law firm Foot Anstey, which has an office in Bristol, has secured reaccreditation from the National Equality Standard (NES), achieving the highest score of any legal sector organisation.
Foot Anstey became the first law firm in the region to gain an NES three years ago for its efforts to tackle inequality and promote inclusion. 
The NES was developed by accountancy group EY to bring clarity and consistency to efforts to tackle inequality and promote inclusion. Since then well over 100 firms have been accredited.
It sets clear equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) criteria against which organisations are independently assessed and has become the accepted standard for inclusiveness in business across the UK and is now being used globally.
Foot Anstey, which employs more than 500 people across its offices in Bristol, Exeter, London, Plymouth, Southampton, Taunton and Truro, was assessed on 35 competencies within the NES framework – scoring an impressive 32 out of 35.
This included a five out of five for the firm’s ‘core components EDI’ and five out of five in the ‘your development’ competency, which explores talent attraction, career progression and learning and development. 
The NES assessment also found that Foot Anstey continues to consider flexible working a key priority and has clearly explained the benefits of flexible working to employees, which has resulted in a high proportion of employees being on formal and informal flexible working arrangements.
The firm was also recognised for its external relationships and CSR(corporate and social responsibility), governance and senior level scrutiny as well as its robust annual pay process.
Foot Anstey HR director Ramsey Mirza, pictured, who led the process, said: “We are incredibly proud of both the reaccreditation and this high score.
“Diversity and inclusion is a strategic priority for the firm, and we have made significant progress to build on our previous score with our focused efforts around equality, diversity and inclusion.”
NES founder and CEO Arun Batra added: “Foot Anstey’s efforts to incorporate the 2018 assessment recommendations were marked. Most notably there have been significant improvements to the firm’s EDI communications approach, now a key strength, as well as significant enhancements to the support available for mental health and wellbeing.
NES is supported by the Home Office and the CBI and The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) was involved in its development and launch.
